Biden has been THOROUGHLY vetted. And came out remarkably clean

[RockRaven]

2. I've half-written and then deleted an OP on this aspect several times.

Biden is the most vetted Democratic candidate possible. There are no skeletons left to find. The media is reduced to his age -- which is rather well known and utterly predictable from one year to the next -- in their thirst for scandals. Meanwhile any replacement would have had less public exposure so even well known or well documented things from their past will be dragged out as "secrets revealed" and "new details!" There will be at least one "BrEaKiNg NeWs!" pseudoscandal a week between the convention and election with anyone else.